In an unprecedented nationwide voter education effort, union volunteers and working family voters are mobilizing to take back the White House and Congress and win important state races. In four years of Bush administration rule, millions of working families saw their jobs sent overseas, had their overtime pay threatened and saw their bargaining rights eroded. Soaring health care costs shrink families' paychecks, while the wealthy cash in on Bush's tax cuts that have offered little relief for working families. For seniors, the Bush White House created a Medicare prescription drug program that helps HMOs and drug companies more than consumers and wants to privatize Social Security.

America's union members are fighting back. They're joining together at worksites where local union volunteers distribute leaflets to their co-workers on issues such as the need for affordable health care. Union phone banks are packed with members calling other members about the need to elect working family candidates. They're taking part in nationwide mobilizations in which thousands of volunteers walk their neighborhoods, telling union families that Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards will restore fairness and integrity to the White House. In thousands of actions large and small, union members are mobilizing to help take back America.

Don Dawson  Communications Workers of America Signing Up Race Car Dads for Kerry Until this year, Don Dawson watched politics from the sidelines. But mobilized by Bush administration policies he says are destroying his children's futures, Dawson became a Labor 2004 coordinator for Communications Workers of America Local 7102 in Iowa. Within a few months, the Quest call-center worker had signed up some 250 new Committee on Political Education (COPE) members, raising $30,000 in voluntary contributions. He regularly spends shift changes leafleting union members at the dozens of garages staffed by Quest service crews. "I looked at the current situation in the country, what the president is doing to unions and working people, and I want my kids to have something when they grow up," says Dawson, a father of two. Dawson, 28, also has a unique mobilizing tool at hand: his race car. He races sprint cars throughout Iowa, where the small, open-cockpit cars are so popular, the state is home to the Sprint Car Hall of Fame. Along with the obligatory sponsor decals, Dawson's car sports a large CWA/COPE decal. "People walk through the pits and stop and ask what that stands for, and it gives me a chance talk to them, and you'd be surprised, on these smaller tracks you tend to get a lot of working people who are on our side," Dawson says.

The Midwest
Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio

Hurting in the Heartland

Karl Jefferson Jr. is among hundreds of union construction workers building a new cardiac wing on the Cleveland Clinic. Despite the long hours on the job, each day before and after work and during breaks, Jefferson (right) joins thousands of Ohio union members who are educating voters among co-workers and fighting to win back the 214,500 jobs that have disappeared in Ohio since George W. Bush took office.

Ohio is among the nation's heartland states suffering significant job losses. Workers in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Missouri have seen their jobs disappear under Bush's economy. Many of those were family-supporting manufacturing jobs. Nationwide, 2.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since January 2001. Working families are mobilizing to stem that job loss by electing Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards to take command of the nation's economic stewardship.

In the disputed 2000 presidential election, the contest in Midwestern states was so tight that one percentage point or a few thousand votes would have changed the outcome. The vote in Wisconsin, a virtual 48 percent to 48 percent dead heat, meant Al Gore won by a slim 5,708 votes. To widen the margin of votes working families cast in 2004, some 500 union members in Milwaukee joined AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in early June for one of nearly a thousand Labor 2004 neighborhood walks around the country in which union members talk with other union members about working family issues and Kerry's strong stand in support of good jobs, affordable health care, education, homeland security and more.

Jefferson, a steward with Laborers Local 310, says the personal touch of one union member talking to another "really helps reaching people. We've increased voter registration and people's awareness of the issues and overall activism."

Throughout Ohio, that activism includes some 7,500 Ohio union members who have walked neighborhoods during weeknights and weekends to talk with other union members, with 2,500 union volunteers making more 40,000 contacts with other union members on Sept. 2, the same night Bush accepted his party's nomination at its New York City convention.

In Michigan, the state AFL-CIO designated an entire week of political mobilization in early September, capping off voter education efforts with an appearance by Kerry before tens of thousands of union families at Detroit's Ford Field. In Minnesota, hundreds of local union members and officials volunteered to be Labor 2004 coordinators, recruiting thousands of volunteers for phone banks, door-to-door walks, leaflet actions, get-out-the vote mobilization and more.

Back in Ohio, Jefferson says there's still more to do. "Between now and Nov. 2, I'm going to pass out as much literature and educate as many people as I can reach. I'm going to keep on pushing."

 

Bob Norcross  Asbestos Workers Straight Talk with Union Members Bob Norcross (seated, right) has found a simple but effective way to motivate the members of Asbestos Workers Local 23 in Harrisburg, Pa., to join in Labor 2004's mobilization to win back the White House for working families. "Basically we say, 'Look at the issues. The president does not believe in project labor agreements. In fact, he outlawed them. He wants to outlaw prevailing wages and believes in so-called right to work laws. Our union system is the best way to win good wages, security and health care, and he wants to takes us down.' " By late July, that type of lay-it-on-the-line straight talk on issues critical to Local 23 members mobilized 74 members of the 230-member union to take part in neighborhood Labor Walks in several area communities and join in phone-bank sessions to call union members about the importance of beating President George W. Bush Nov. 2. Norcross, Local 23 business manager, communicates with union members, whose worksites are spread across 18 counties, through regular mailings, monthly meetings and newsletters, always including information on issues related to union members' jobs and families. Union members need to "look at what Bush has done—and at the alternative and potential for good Kerry brings," says Norcross. "That should be enough to motivate anybody."

The Northeast
Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania

Member Mobilization by the Numbers Across the nation, union member volunteer activists have been making one-to-one contact with union brothers and sisters to discuss the working family issues at stake this election year. As of Sept. 2, outreach efforts included: 5.4 million phone calls to union members 956 Labor Walk events 47,000 Labor Walk volunteers 4,138 Labor 2004 local union coordinators 6.7 million Labor 2004 local union fliers printed and distributed For information on state and local races and ballot initiatives, visit www.votenov2.com.

Battleground States: Mobilizing in Swing-State Strongholds

Union activists throughout the Northeast are talking with members and signing them up to vote on an unprecedented scale.

In Pennsylvania, a key battleground state in this year's elections, union activists say member mobilization is booming: In the Philadelphia area, local union and worksite coordinators distributed more than 250,000 worksite leaflets in June alone.

In Maine—targeted by Bush to erase his five percentage point defeat in 2000—local unions representing nearly three-quarters of the state's union members have mobilized for the election and have designated more than 300 Labor 2004 local union and worksite coordinators to organize actions. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire activists have

distributed nearly 100,000 Labor 2004 issue fliers at worksites and through the mail. In March, Labor 2004 volunteers hand wrote 8,000 postcards about important election issues, such as jobs and health care, and mailed them to targeted union voters.

Judy Heh, president of AFSCME District Council 90, which represents 10,000 members in 30 local unions throughout Southern Pennsylvania's Dauphin County and Harrisburg, says all 30 unions that are part of the council are educating voters. The AFSCME local unions, which represent state and county employees such as highway workers and correctional officers, plan to send each of their members at least two letters about the importance of the Nov. 2 elections and winning back the White House for working families.

Heh says Council 90 has intensified its voter registration efforts and the local unions are helping members register to vote. With a 20-line phone bank set up for calling members and with retirees assisting union leaders with mailings and worksite leafleting, their efforts are making a difference in an area where 56 percent of registered voters are Republican.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, Labor 2004 volunteers in Allegheny, Washington and Greene counties have walked neighborhoods knocking on union household doors every evening since June 26. In Allegheny County on Aug. 23, more than 200 Steelworkers Labor 2004 volunteers went door-to-door while another 70 made 3,000 phone calls to union members about important election issues. In York, Dick Boyd, president of the York-Adams County Central Labor Council, has joined dozens of Labor 2004 volunteers at pre-dawn worksite gatherings to distribute issues leaflets to union members arriving at work.

 

Judy Green  SEIU Time to Beat George W. Bush When Judy Green knocks on the doors of union members in Las Vegas, she sees that "people are pretty much disgusted with Bush and what's he's done to this country. I've even talked to some Republicans who are now hitting the streets and joining us, too." Green, a customer service representative for the Las Vegas Convention Center Authority and SEIU Local 1107 member political organizer, says she always believed she would be able to leave the world a better place for her three children and three grandchildren, but "it doesn't look that way right now. People can't afford to buy houses, they don't have health care, good jobs are going overseas." Green is working full time to mobilize union members in Las Vegas to elect Sen. John Kerry as president and other working family friendly lawmakers, "hitting the streets and knocking on doors to talk to people, give them the facts and figures," she says. Because the election is expected to be decided by a just a few electoral votes, Nevada's four electoral votes are crucial to Kerry. The state backed Bush in 2000 by a thin margin, and polls show the 2004 race is a toss-up that could be decided by a strong working family mobilization. "All the unions here, SEIU, the Culinary Workers, the Steelworkers—all of us—we've gathered forces and are going out as one voice. It's time to beat George Bush."

The West
Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Washington

Are You Better Off Than Four Years Ago?

	Boots on the ground: AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, who was one of thousands of union activists protesting violations of voters' rights in Florida in 2000, vows such an election disaster won't happen again and calls on union members to "work harder than ever before and smarter than ever before" by "putting boots on the ground, knocking on doors, making phone calls and visiting work sites."

The Bush campaign is counting on winning in several western states Nov. 2, including Oregon and New Mexico, where 2000 Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore only won by a handful of votes. Working families are mobilizing to improve the victories in those two states, capture Nevada and Arizona, which voted for Bush in 2000, and maintain a strong edge in Washington state.

In Portland, Ore., the Northwest Labor Council and numerous unions cancelled their regular meetings in September and October and instead are using those nights for labor walks, says Council President Judy O'Connor.

The Washington State Labor Council, working with local unions around the state, organized a regular series of weeknight and weekend Labor Neighbor walks in more than a dozen counties beginning in August and running each week until Election Day.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, states with relatively few union members but high voter turnout, more than 250 Labor 2004 local union coordinators are organizing door-to-door walks, distributing issues fliers, mailing members information from their locals, coordinating phone banks, recruiting volunteers and readying large-scale get-out-the-vote drives.

Union members throughout the Southwest also are spearheading a large My Vote, My Right mobilization to make sure all votes are counted and voters are not turned away from the polls.

In August, O'Connor mobilized union members to speak to local media about the impact of nearly four years of Bush administration tax cuts for the rich and failed economic policies that cost nearly 1.7 million private-sector U.S. jobs.

"If I could talk to the president, do you really think he'd ask me if I was better off than I was four years ago?" Kelly Cooper asked reporters. In 2003, at age 56, Cooper was laid off from Boeing Co., where she had worked for more than 25 years.

In August, neither Cooper nor other laid-off Portland-area workers were part of Bush's two same-day campaign appearances there, one that included 300 business executives and another with 2,300 screened and handpicked party faithfuls. But they were among the 40,000 state residents who mobilized for a John Kerry rally that same day across town.

 

Betty LaPointe  Electrical Workers Reaching Out to Swing Voters When Betty LaPointe was on vacation in Vermont in July, the Nashua, N.H., resident met with Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) about key issues in the upcoming elections. A mill machine operator at Raytheon Corp.'s Sudbury, Mass., plant, LaPointe spent her week off this summer carrying out her duties as Electrical Workers Local 1505 Labor 2004 coordinator. "We've got a big job trying to educate 7,000 members about what George Bush has done in four years—sending jobs overseas. A lot of our jobs have gone overseas," says LaPointe. "Bush is trying to privatize everything from Social Security, Medicare and the post office." Back on the job, LaPointe spends her free time rounding up volunteers for Labor Walks and phone banks, contacting the local's members, most of whom live in nearby New Hampshire, one of more than a dozen states where a close vote is expected in the November elections. The Local 1505 vice president says member-to-member phone calls and house visits are what "really sway people." "I have been able to change some minds of the Independents, the swing voters when tell them I believe John Kerry's jobs plan, it's going to work and bring jobs back home from overseas and create new ones. If we don't pull together and get him elected, there may not be such things as unions anymore."

The South

All Eyes on Florida

As in the 2000 elections, much of the nation is focusing on Florida, where memories of the 2000 presidential election, voter intimidation in the 2004 spring primaries and other allegations of voting irregularities are causing concern among union and community activists.

Voter education is the first part of making every vote count, and in Tampa, Transport Workers Local 1464 volunteers joined other area union members to make more than 15,000 Labor 2004 get-out-the-vote phone calls to area union households by mid-August.

Although Tampa and the Hillsboro County area did not suffer the voting irregularities and problems in the disputed 2000 presidential vote, says ATU Local 1464 President Martha Stevens, union activists are "encouraging everybody to vote early by absentee ballot just to make sure every vote is counted."

Elsewhere in Florida, more union members than ever are volunteering to help with phone banks and neighborhood Labor Walks, says Florida AFL-CIO President Cynthia Hall. In June alone, some 282 rank-and-file volunteers made calls to 28,000 undecided union voters.

Walking door to door to talk with union members about working family issues and the need to vote is a fairly new political activity in Florida, Hall says. Yet more than 3,000 members have taken part in such walks, talking with some 25,000 members by early September.

"When I knock on these doors," says Fred Frost, president of the South Florida AFL-CIO, "people tell me they know the country has to change course. They're worried about health care and jobs, and they remember 2000. The people I've talked with really believe John Kerry is the one to take the country in the right direction, somebody who understands working families."

 

Donesa Jackson  AFT/Alliance for Retired Americans Making Every Vote Count In 2000, the Florida vote count was at the center of determining the presidential election, with 527 votes reportedly tilting the scales toward George W. Bush—even as thousands of voters throughout the state were disenfranchised or their votes left uncounted. Donesa Jackson is determined this Nov. 2, the Florida vote count won't be disputed. "We're registering and mobilizing enough retired union members so we don't have to worry about 537 votes. I want thousands more votes just to be certain there will be no doubt." A retired member of New York's United Federation of Teachers/AFT Local 2, the Florida resident is working to get out the state's senior vote in her role as senior mobilization coordinator for the Central Florida AFL-CIO labor council and as Labor 2004 coordinator for the Orlando chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans. The Alliance is a nationwide grassroots organization that advocates on behalf of America's seniors. After 32 years teaching New York City elementary school children, Jackson is reaching out to the hundreds of retired UFT/AFT Local 2 members in the Orlando-Orange County region who have retired but still haven't registered to vote in Florida. Many retired voters she talks with are worried about their votes being counted. And Jackson says she has some strategies up her sleeve to make sure those worries are unfounded. "Our goal is to make sure every vote is counted."